Poisoned Flint police officer recognized nearly a century later for dying in line of duty

FLINT, MI -- For almost 100 years, Detective Sgt. Caleb Embree Smith of the Flint Police Department went unrecognized on the nation's monument to law enforcement officers who gave their lives in the line of duty.

That is about to change. Smith's name will go on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., in May. He will join the list of 19,980 fallen officers from 1776 to present day.

Smith was killed by a poisoning while on duty Oct. 27, 1921, according to Flint Police Sgt. Greg Hosmer, who works cold cases.

"He died within four or five hours of eating his lunch," Hosmer said.

An officer's final hours

Smith showed up for work on the last day of his life at 8 p.m. He worked third shift.

The shift began on a Wednesday night and was a fairly typical one, according to Hosmer's report.

Smith and his partner, Det. Thomas Plunkett, had an investigation on Mackin Road and then stopped at the Genesee County Jail. It was shaping up to be a pretty normal night.

The two split up for about an hour starting at 11:15 p.m. Plunkett later said he expected Smith went off for a late lunch at his favorite restaurant, a coney place.

The two met up again and carried on with their shift. They arrested a man named John Stone who had an outstanding warrant. Around this time, Smith started saying he felt ill.

Around 1:15 a.m. the two were back at headquarters, Smith's condition was getting worse.

At 1:50 a.m. Plunkett took Smith home, which was at 1647 Beach St.

He was shaking and trembling. He complained about a funny feeling in his stomach. He vomited. Then he fell asleep and went into a coma.

By the time the doctor showed up at 5:50 a.m., it was too late. Smith had died. He left behind a wife and two sons.

A coroner's jury would conclude that he had died from arsenic poisoning. A state chemist later found trace amounts of strychnine, arsenic and bichloride of mercury in his body.

Police interviewed employees from Smith's favorite restaurant, who all said the officer didn't come in that night and they were eliminated as suspects.

He was well liked, said the employees. It was a mystery. Who would do this?

"Even as a police officer," read Hosmer's report. "Smith had no known enemies."

Nobody was ever charged with his death.

For years, the death was treated as suspicious but Smith was never formally recognized as an officer slain in the line of duty.

A family mystery

When his son, Richard, died in 2002, Kathleen Smith began taking a closer look at her grandfather's story.

Richard Smith was the family historian, of sorts, the one with all the stories, Kathleen Smith said. She wanted to take on this task.

She started researching Jacob Embree Smith.

"I wanted to know more about him" said Kathleen Smith, who lives in Florida. "He was on the top of my list of people of interest.

"I didn't really have high-speed internet, so it meant a lot of library time."

Through old government documents, newspaper articles, family records and much more material, Kathleen Smith was able to slowly piece together her grandfather's story.

She began sharing it on websites dedicated to remembering fallen law enforcement.

Word made its way up to the Flint Police Department, and around 2006, Hosmer got involved. As a Flint police sergeant, he had access to evidence Kathleen Smith might never find.

"I kind of pieced it all together," Hosmer said.

Recognized at last

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is at Judiciary Square in Washington, D.C. It is a series of walkways and short walls surrounding a reflecting pool.

To be included on the wall, a law enforcement officer must have been killed in the line of duty.

"The term 'killed in the line of duty' means a law enforcement officer has died as a direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty," according to the requirements from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Decades after his death, the organization is recognizing Smith. His name will be among 320 names added to the wall on May 13.

"Detective Sergeant Smith was poisoned while on patrol," according to Memorial Fund documents. "It was never determined how Detective Smith was poisoned with arsenic but his sudden illness and death several hours later led the department to conclude that had been murdered."

Kathleen Smith said it feels good to get this kind of resolution after all these years. She wishes her father were around to see it.

"I know my dad would be really over the top," she said.

At the memorial are four bronze lions overlooking the stage. A quote is inscribed under each lion.

"It is not how these officers died that made them heroes," reads one quote, "it is how they lived."